Do Marketing Buzzwords Affect Pharma's Reputation Among Patients & Physicians?
Consultant and strategist Andrew Spong, PhD, former scholar and currently STweM‘s managing director, recently tweeted:"Building trust is far from impossible for #pharma. Abstaining from digital conferences is a great start."The tweet linked to a 2013 anti-pharma marketing screed posted on STweM titled "For pharma, the era of multi-channel marketing, closed loop marketing, sales force effectiveness, and market access is over"I assume Spong singled out "digital conferences" because these buzzwords are frequently heard at such conferences.It's a year later and the industry has "abstain...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - July 17, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: Buzz/Public Relations/Image DTC Advertising Reputation social media marketing Source Type: blogs
Total CME Revenue is Up, But Pharma Support is Down (Again) in 2013
The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) 2013 Annual Report is out. Here's the data regarding total CME income and breakdown according to source of income. Note: the data analyzed in this post include income received by BOTH ACCME-Accredited and ACCME-recognized State-Accredited CME providers.Click on chart for enlarged view.Let's look more closely at the numbers for pharma support.Read more » (Source: Pharma Marketing Blog)
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - July 16, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: ACCME Source Type: blogs
FDA's Social Media Guidance Webinar: A Third Guidance Needed for Mobile Devices?
Yesterday, the FDA hosted a public webinar to "further" the Agency's "communications with stakeholders, media and the public" about recently-published social media guidelines.Unfortunately, I did not learn of this until it was too late -- registration to attend was closed. So, I urged those attending to live tweet during the webinar using the #fdasm hashtag.If you read those tweets, you'll soon discover three things:First, there were so many technical difficulties, the whole thing seemed to be heading for an epic #FAIL. Eventually, however, people were able to hear what was being said.Second, wh...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - July 11, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: #fdasm Guidance Mobile social media Source Type: blogs
Has Gilead's Director of Regulatory Affairs Been Hiding Under a Rock Since 2009? Will He Be Fired or Praised?
At the end of June, the FDA sent a Notice of Violation (NOV) letter to Dr. C (you can find his name in the letter), Director, Regulatory Affairs Advertising and Promotion at Gilead Sciences, citing a sponsored link on Google for VIREAD (you can find the letter here).Here's the ad in question:Unless Dr. C (he has a PharmD degree) has been hiding under a "regulatory rock" since 2009, it's difficult to imagine that he would have approved such an ad. Because as WE all know, FDA views such ads, which include the drug brand name AND indication but no fair balance safety information, as violative of the FD&C...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - July 8, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: 14 letters FDA Girl from Google Legal/Regulatory Source Type: blogs
Another Idea for Creating FDA-Compliant Promotional Tweets: Put the Carriage Before the Horse
In previous posts, I discussed a few different techniques that pharma marketers could use to create Rx branded promotional tweets that satisfy recently-published FDA guidelines.One such idea was to attach an image of the required important safety information (ISI) to the promotional tweet (see "A Type of Rx Drug Tweet FDA Did Not Consider in its Recent Guidance").I polled readers about this and a majority of readers who took my poll said, yes, it's possible that such a tweet would satisfy FDA guidance requirements:In discussions with the Twitter "pharma team," however, I learned that on small-screen...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - July 2, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: #fdasm Cialis Drug Safety Guidance ISI social media Twitter Source Type: blogs
Will Twitter's Card Technology Allow Pharma Brands to Post FDA-Compliant Promotional Tweets?
In today's Pharma Marketing News, I reviewed three "workarounds" that might allow pharma marketers to post promotional tweets that satisfy FDA's recently published (18 June 2014) guidelines:Chain of TweetsTweets with Images (see "A Type of Rx Drug Tweet FDA Did Not Consider in its Recent Guidance")Twitter CardsRead "FDA Sets Up a Roadblock for Branded Rx Promotional Tweets" for the details regarding the first two options.Spoiler Alert: They both probably won't pass muster with the FDA.What about Twitter Cards?A little Twitter bird told me that Twitter Cards, which allow your tweets...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - June 30, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: #fdasm Guidance Mobile Mobile Advertising social media Twitter Source Type: blogs
Should FDA or Pharma Correct/Edit Drug Information on Wikipedia?
A New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) Perspective ("Drug Safety in the Digital Age") suggests that the FDA "update or automatically feed new safety communications to Wikipedia pages." The authors cite this precedent: "In 2008, the FDA partnered with WebMD to bring public health announcements to all registered users and to quickly integrate this information into WebMD's suite of Web pages."The reason this was suggested is apparent from the following chart, which shows that FDA safety warnings were associated with an "82% increase, on average, in Google searches for the drugs during ...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - June 27, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: Drug Safety FDA guidelines Wikipedia Source Type: blogs
Did Pawn Star Rick Harrison Ask His Daddy About the Value of Vascepa Omega-3 Fish Oil?
Cable-TV star Rick Harrison (host of the show Pawn Stars) is now officially a celebrity spokesperson for Amarin's Omega-3 Vascepa brand Rx drug. A few minutes ago, Harrison made the official announcement via his @GoldSilverPawn Twitter account, which has over 155,000 followers: "Excited to share my story of lowering my very high #triglycerides through the new Lower My Trigs campaign: http://bit.ly/1uXxUSP #spon"“If I hadn't checked with my doctor, I would have made the mistake many make, thinking dietary supplement omega-3s are actually over-the-counter drugs,” Harrison says in a video on the site Lo...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - June 25, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: Celebrity Endorsement Cholesterol Lovaza Pawn Stars Vascepa Source Type: blogs
The Hawaiian Shirt is Back from Italy and Ready for the Next Pharmaguy Social Media Pioneer Award Recipient!
I just received the coveted Hawaiian shirt from Davide Bottalico and the Roche Italy Digital Academy Team, recipients of the Fourth Annual Pharmaguy Social Media Pioneer Award (see "Davide Bottalico and the Roche Digital Academy Team Receive the 4th Annual Pharmaguy Social Media Pioneer Award!").I was a little afraid that Davide would get pizza on the shirt when I spotted an image on his Facebook page of him wearing it. But I see that it is in mint condition -- freshly dry-cleaned and wrapped in plastic! Thanks Davide for taking such good care of this revered symbol of "standing out from the crowd."The Award gives ku...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - June 20, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: social media Social Media Pioneer Award Source Type: blogs
A Type of Rx Drug Tweet FDA Did Not Consider in its Recent Guidance
I couldn't sleep last night. For some reason I became obsessed with trying to figure out a way that pharma companies can create Rx branded tweets that satisfy FDA's recent "Industry Guidance for Internet/Social Media Platforms with Character Space Limitations — Presenting Risk and Benefit Information for Prescription Drugs and Medical Devices."Is it possible?In a comment to the FDA on Regulation.gov, I described a Tweet that may pass muster with the FDA.Here's my comment:"The draft guidance does not mention Tweets accompanied by images, which is perhaps a way to present ISI along with benef...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - June 20, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: #fdasm Drug Safety Guidance side effects space limitation Twitter Source Type: blogs
FDA Has One More Internet Guidance to Publish in 2014: Links
Discussion Forums About Branded Rx Products, Sorta, & Kinda Correct Misinformation").Will FDA publish Guidance #3 before the July 9, 2014, deadline imposed by Congress (see here)? Or will it miss that deadline? When it does publish this guidance, will it address ALL the issues about links raised by the FDA prior to the November, 2009, public hearing? What's the opinion of pharma marketers regarding these issues? Read on.Read more » (Source: Pharma Marketing Blog)
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - June 19, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: #fdasm Guidance guidelines social media Sponsored Link Source Type: blogs
FDA to Pharma: Forget About Tweets! But You Can Host Discussion Forums About Branded Rx Products, Sorta, & Kinda Correct Misinformation
FDA has just released two guidance documents that finally address major issues discussed at the November 2009 public hearing:How to present both benefit and risk information within a “promotion” of their FDA-regulated medical products on electronic/digital platforms that are associated with character space limitations, specifically on through social media such as Twitter and through online paid search (e.g., “sponsored links” on search engines such as Google and Yahoo); and How to respond to misinformation related to a firm’s own FDA-approved or -cleared products when that information is created or disseminated ...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - June 18, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: #fdasm Guidance guidelines social media Wikipedia Source Type: blogs
Fictional Patient Story Wins Gold, Whereas Authentic Patient Story Wins Bronze at Lions Health 2014
Although none of the 517 entries from 35 countries in the Pharma category at the recent Lions Health "Festival" was a a grand prix winner (read "Pharma Advertising is So Bad It Has No Big Winner at Cannes Lions Health 2014"), one campaign did win a Gold Award: Janssen's Simponi's "Cate" campaign. This campaign represents a category that many #LionsHeath tweeters waxed poetic about: patient storytelling. It's all the rage today in pharma and healthcare advertising.Here's how McCann Health Australia, the ad agency who created this campaign, described it:"When you treat RA w...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - June 17, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: #LionsHealth Narrative Medicine patient testimonial Source Type: blogs
Pharma Advertising is So Bad It Has No Big Winner at Cannes Lions Health 2014
Cannes Lions Health 2014 was a new two-day "festival of creativity" in healthcare communications, actually more of a contest among healthcare and pharma advertising agencies vying for awards and honors meted out by their peers."Made by advertising agencies and for advertising agencies, Lions Health could not find a grand prix winner in Cannes this year," noted Piotr Wrzosiński, Digital Marketing - Informatics Project Manager at Roche and author of K-Message."Does it prove lack of creativity, or rather that the whole concept of advertising in the healthcare industry is wrong?," asks Wrzosińsk...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - June 16, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: #LionsHealth Awards DTC Advertising Unbranded Advertising Source Type: blogs
Gefällt Mir! Boehringer Ingelheim Invites Two-Way Communication Via Social Media
"Boehringer Ingelheim is a leader in healthcare social media," according to video the company has just recently uploaded to YouTube for the whole world to see (the video is embedded at the end of this post).I'm on record for pointing out that some pharma companies are getting very comfy with Facebook, YouTube, blogs, Twitter, Pinterest, Vine, and even Tumblr to reach its many and diverse audiences (read, for example, "Pharma and Social Media - Comfy Bedfellows"). And I've given Boehringer (BI) kudos (e.g., "Boehringer Ingelheim Shows How to Support Patients via Twitter and Beyond") as ...
Source: Pharma Marketing Blog - June 10, 2014 Category: Pharma Commentators Tags: Boehringer Ingelheim social media YouTube Source Type: blogs
